SURVIVING A SNAKE BITE - ROCKVILLE RHODNITE’S STORY
SURVIVING A SNAKE BITE - ROCKVILLE RHODNITE’S STORY
By Cherie Matheson, Rockville Alpacas, Tocumwal, NSW
Rhodnite is a four year old grey stud male with a very gentle temperament which was very fortunate for us as we embarked on his incredible journey of survival from the bite(s) of a snake, possibly a brown. His story is unique as the chances of surviving such an attack are extremely rare.
This is his story….
My daily routine of checking the animals was no different on Sunday 12 January 2011 when I found Rhodnite had a bald patch on the right side of his back bone the size of my fist with 2 smaller patches ( about the size of a 20c piece) on the left side of his back bone, approx 2cm from the middle of his spine. I had never seen this before in any of my animals and immediately rang another breeder close by for advice as he had also reported loss of fleece patches on his animals. The larger patch looked like the fleece had fallen out and the skin had no pigmentation; the other breeder suggested treatment every second day with Derisal and Musca Ban.
And so began his regular extensive treatment…
Over the following few days I treated his bare patches (which were starting to look like dried out bacon) with Derisal and fly repellent as well as coating him for extra protection from flies and mosquitoes
However, when removing his coat on the fourth day I was confronted with a large open infected wound along his right side approx 12” long 1” wide and ½”” deep - the smell was overwhelmingly disgusting! I managed to remove a large amount of the pus, stopped the Derisal treatment and cleaned up the wound, sprayed it with Chlorimide and gave him Penicillin 7.0mls. Penned him in the front yard so it would be easier to manage him and where he could still see his herd.
The following day I was advised of a retired breeder who had had an animal presenting with the same signs some years previously and after speaking with him, he volunteered to come and look at Rhodnite for me. On close inspection it was obvious that this boy was suffering from snake bite wounds and then began the gruesome task of cutting away all the dead and rotting skin and copious amounts of pus. If he was to survive, this routine needed to be conducted on a daily basis to enable the regrowth of new skin to come through and reduce the spread of the infection.
At this stage I started to take daily photographs after each treatment, trimming away the dead skin with small scissors and hosing out the infected material. This also softened crusty scabs that had formed which I then scraped away with a tea spoon; I would then place a towel over the entire area and gently pat it dry (this also helped lift any more scabby matter left on after scraping) and finally sprayed it with Chlorimide. Whilst this was drying I would take him take him out on a long lead to graze – a treat that he really enjoyed! When the area was dry I would liberally cover it with Sorbelene and spray with MuscaBan and then give him his Penicillin injection.
Even though I was fairly happy with Rhodnite’s progress I did wonder if there was anything else I should be doing – a call to my Veterinarian who advised that all treatment was exactly as they would have suggested. This was very reassuring!
And so his daily treatment continued taking at least two hours. The infection was healing and the skin loss had not gone down his body but had joined up across his spine.
I counted approx 8 bites at tis stage, some showing two fang marks and others where the snake only just scraped the skin, the two fang marks were much deeper with the infection penetrating further into his flesh.
It had been 12 days since I commenced Rhondite’s treatment and he (understandably) was getting very tired of the daily injections so I am started giving him a homeopathic drench which he actually liked! This new treatment combined with his daily dressings proved to be very successful and he must have been feeling better as he was enjoying a roll in the grass!
After about 6 weeks of daily treatment I reduced this to every second day but still gave him the drench daily. Towards the end of February I could see the area really starting to heal and decided to reduce the treatment to every three to four days and by mid March the fleece was starting to grow back.
At the time of writing he is still penned but out from under cover to get him acclimatised. I am keeping a close eye on him in case the cold gets to him as not all the fleece has grown back along his spine, the worst bite was right on top of his lower spine and took the longest to heal.
In conclusion…..we are very lucky that Rhodnite is a very calm animal and at no stage was he off his food or seemed ill. Had he not been in good condition I do not think he would have survived; in the first 5-6 weeks he did loose weight but now we have to watch that he does not get over weight! It has been suggested that he was probably bitten approx two weeks before I started treatment. This ties in with the time the crop surrounding our property was stripped and obviously flushed out the snake. It would seem that he must have rolled on it to have sustained so many bites – 12 in all!
A happy ending….Rhodnite is now very protective of us and I am sure he appreciates the hours of hard work that were put into ensuring his survival. He is most anxious to get back to his herd and back to his stud duties.
WELL DONE RHODNITE – YOU’RE A LEGEND
WELL DONE RHODNITE – YOU’RE A LEGEND
Acknowledgements: to
Ian Wastle,
The other half of Rockville Alpaca’s for all his help and caring in the background that he provided, that has not been acknowledged in the above story, throughout Rhodnite’s care, this could not have been done this without his help support and encouragement.
Bob Mahoney,
For all his invaluable advice and knowledge in treating an animal with this injury, without Bob Rhodnite would not have survived
And of course to all our other Alpaca friends that offered help, advice and support along the way